Denver-area shooting leaves 3 dead, including officer, gunman

A shooting in a Denver-area suburb on Monday reportedly left three dead, including a police officer and the suspected shooter.

As The Associated Press reported, an officer responded to a call about an incident at a library in Arvada around 1:15 p.m. local time, and 15 minutes later, calls came in of shots fired and an officer being hit.

Further details surrounding the incident have yet to be released.

The police officer’s death is only the third in the Arvada Police Department’s history, the AP reported.

Arvada Mayor Marc Williams said this death was particularly painful, as it came just months after a mass shooting at a Boulder grocery store, to which Arvada police officers had helped respond.

“This is by far the saddest day for our Police Department,” Williams reportedly said.

Arvada closed its city hall and canceled a city council meeting in order to provide more resources to first responders, the AP reported.

Residents reportedly lined the streets as a hearse carrying the officer’s body drove to the coroner’s office. Police vehicles drove behind it as it went, according to the AP.

“It breaks my heart whenever this happens but especially when it happens so close to home,” Arvada resident John Garrod told the AP. “These are the same officers I wave to when I am walking my dog.”